PH-Japan defense pact enters into force on Sept. 11

The defense agreement seeking to expand and strenghten security cooperation between the Philippines and Japan through joint military drills and other activities will enter into force on September 11, 2025.

Philippine and Japanese officials led by Foreign Secretary Theresa Lazaro and Ambassador Endo Kazuya held a ceremonial exchange of notes Tuesday to formalize the Reciprocal Access Agreement or RAA, which will allow the deployment of Japanese forces and Filipino troops in each other's territory for joint exercises.

"As the security environment in the region becomes increasingly severe, the entry into force of the agreement with the Philippines, a strategic partner located at a strategic juncture on the sea lanes and sharing fundamental values and principles, will further promote security and defense cooperation between the two countries, and firmly support peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region," the Japanese embassy said in a statement.

Japan and the Philippines, which was occupied by Imperial Japan during World War II, have established closer security ties under Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in the face of China's increasingly assertive behavior in the disputed South China Sea. China and Japan are also locked in a long-running territorial dispute over the Senkaku islands, which the Chinese call Diaoyu, in the East Sea.

Defense Secretary Gilberto.Teodoro, who was also present at the event, said the agreement is not directed against any country, but "provides deterrence for those actors who may not see things the way we do and may not share our values."

"At the end of the day, what it means is that our most potent instrument of national power, which is our Armed Force and that of Japan, can work together, but not for destabilizing the world order, but a shared purpose to preserve it against unilateral attempts to reshape the world order into the selfish benefit of parties to the exclusion of others," Teodoro said.

The agreement establishes procedures on cooperative activities and joint drills to be conducted by defense forces of the Philippines and Japan.

It will also include disaster response and seeks to "improve interoperability between the forces of the two countries."

Teodoro said both sides are in the process of finalizing key component agreements of the RAA to make it fully implementable.

Similar to Manila's Visiting Forces Agreement with its treaty ally, the United States, the RAA defense pact with the Philippines is the first to be signed by Japan in Asia. Japan signed similar agreements with Australia and the United Kingdom. — BAP, GMA Integrated News